London marathoners won't quit as sports world reviews security

LONDON -- Marathon runners in London say the bombing in Boston that killed three people and injured at least 175 won't deter them from taking part in one of the world's biggest races this weekend.

Law enforcement authorities in London Tuesday continued their review of security plans for the 26.2-mile race from Blackheath in south London to near Buckingham Palace, a day after two bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. An 8-year-old boy was among those killed.

Organizers today confirmed that the April 21 race, with 37,000 entrants, will be held. Runners including Alice Pedder, a 28-year-old attorney at Travers Smith law firm in London, say they're comfortable with London's record in stopping attacks.

"It is impossible to police 26 miles of a city completely," said Pedder, who has run as many as 40 miles a week during one of London's coldest winters to prepare. "It makes you want to run even more. It's privilege, and if people are going to try and stop people doing something so amazing then you've got to do it all the more, and not let people who want to blow up things stop you."

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London's experience with terror attacks from religious extremists and Irish nationalists and successfully guarding the Olympics gives the city an advantage in preparing for big sporting events, said Jennifer Cole, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London. No increase in officers or closed circuit television cameras can stop all attacks, she added.

"You can never have 100 percent security," Cole said. "There are only so many numbers of CCTV cameras that you can have alongside the route, there are only so many numbers of police and security analysts that you can put onto looking for information about any potential threats. Everything that can be done is being done, but you will never get to a point of zero-threat."

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings Monday at the 116-year-old Boston race, and police say they have no suspects or motive.

"These incidents -- you learn from each one and you start to put things in place that you didn't before," said Harvey Schiller, chief executive of New York-based GlobalOptions Group Inc., which provides high-end security to companies, governmental organizations and individuals. "Each one leads to another level of security, which takes away more freedom."

Monday night's National Hockey League game in Boston, where the Bruins were to host the Ottawa Senators, was postponed and will be rescheduled. The National Basketball Association canceled the Indiana Pacers' game Tuesday at the Boston Celtics, and it won't be played since both teams have already qualified for the playoffs.

"The notion of playing a basketball game a day later didn't feel right," Celtics President Rich Gotham said on Twitter. "Some things are bigger than basketball."

NBA spokesman Tim Frank said the league "will continue to work with our arena and team partners, along with local law enforcement, to be proactive around the perimeter of our venues."

The London Marathon will conduct registration Wednesday as planned, while organizers meet with the Metropolitan Police. The race announced that there will be a 30-second moment of silence before each of the three starts, and runners will be given black ribbons to wear when they pick up their numbers.

"We are determined to deliver an amazing event that will focus on one of the core pillars of the London Marathon, which is 'to have fun and provide some happiness and a sense of achievement in a troubled world,'" race director Hugh Brasher said in a statement.

Darren Yarlett, an operations manager at equities broker Redburn Partners, said he's used to living with the idea of a possible terrorist threat because he was born and raised in London.

"The bottom line is, if someone wants to do something bad, then they will," said Yarlett, 31. "But I feel safe."

Runner Lucy Land has confidence in security arrangements, although she said the race will feel different.

"There is something very exciting and unique about competing with elite marathon runners," said Land, a 40-year-old founder of clothing company Zulucow in Dulverton in southwest England. "I am sure it's all going to be fine, but what happened in Boston will be at the back of your mind now."

Sporting events worldwide are looking to increase security after the bombing in Massachusetts. At least 34 more marathons are scheduled in the United States before the end of April, including in Salt Lake City on April 20 and the Kentucky Derby Festival Marathon seven days later, according to Marathonguide.com.

In Oklahoma City, marathon organizers will meet with government departments and law enforcement agencies over the coming days to assess any changes that may be needed in their safety and security plans for the April 28 race.

The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, in its 13th year, commemorates victims of a bomb detonated by Timothy McVeigh in front of the city's federal building on April 19, 1995, killing 168 people and injuring more than 800.

Organizers of the 2014 Super Bowl, to be played in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., in February, said security already is so tight after the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, that the bombings probably won't change anything, said Wayne Hasenbalg, president and chief executive of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority.

"It's obvious that security issues in this new world, with the reality of what happened over a decade ago and what happened yesterday, have to be one of the primary components of any planning for any big event," Hasenbalg said Tuesday in a telephone interview.

The authority, designated to coordinate New Jersey's role in hosting the National Football League's championship game, had a previously scheduled meeting today with host committee Chief Executive Al Kelly to discuss security.

"There's no question we're going to be talking about it today," Hasenbalg said.

Securing events in a stadium or arena -- with limited entry and exit points -- is easier than at more open venues, said Dennis Robinson, chief operations officer of Port Imperial Racing Associates, which is staging a Formula 1 race next year in Weehawken and West New York, N.J.

"We're trying to operate this as close to a bricks-and- mortar venue as possible, utilizing many of the same policies and procedures such as bag checks and sweeps, that takes place at fixed venues," Robinson said in an interview. "The difference is our primary area will be spread over a mile and a half."

He said security procedures lay the foundation for everything involved in event planning.

"Everything flows from that -- how you lay out your facility, how you staff your facility, where you put your guests," he said. "Everything flows based upon public safety."

Continuing to hold and participate in large venues is a way to resist efforts of terrorists to weaken public resolve, Cole said.

"Being able to show that we are able to stand up to that kind of threat is far more important than to show we are afraid of it," said Cole, of the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based research group specializing in defense and security research. "We cannot be frightened into changing so significantly that we get to a zero-tolerance situation."